Lunnon Metals Ltd (ASX:LM8, OTC:LNMLF) has made the call to expand gold exploration efforts at Lady Herial Prospect within the Kambalda Gold and Nickel Project (KGNP) in Western Australia.
Opportunities keep revealing themselves
The decision follows some very promising near-surface, high-grade drill results and the identification of multiple other gold prospects close to favourable zones of the Defiance Dolerite host rock.
Managing director Edmund Ainscough said: "Again, more opportunities keep revealing themselves at Lady Herial.
“We are diligently going about collecting as much new data as possible and confirming the information we’ve already recorded.
“In particular, it was important to confirm the exceptional grades received from drilling as this will give us great confidence as we progress the deposit through the definition and evaluation stages.
“Recognising the strong host rock control on the better thicknesses and grade of the gold mineralisation at Lady Herial has also encouraged us to revisit mapping of the immediate surrounds as well as further afield.
“This has highlighted that not only is Lady Herial open, but it may also be part of a family of stacked structures and at the larger belt scale that there are multiple other gold prospects with the right characteristics and potential to replicate the success enjoyed to date.
“Approving an expanded drill program was the logical next step and this redoubled effort will look to quickly assess and define all these opportunities to firm up a portfolio of robust gold prospects capable of exploitation.”
Noteworthy gold results
Recent drilling at Lady Herial returned notable results, including 6 metres at 62.47 g/t gold from a depth of 17 metres.
The results suggest the presence of a stacked system of parallel mineralised structures, akin to those found at the nearby Victory-Defiance Complex on Gold Fields’ side of the project boundary.
Surface mapping and historical sampling at Lady Herial have also revealed new gold mineralisation in shallow prospecting pits, with rock chip samples recording grades of up to 3.61 g/t gold.
The company has conducted further sampling and preliminary geological modelling, indicating that these pits may represent the surface expression of additional stacked structures within the Lady Herial system.
Senior exploration geologist Duncan Burke-Shyne logging abundant quartz spoil from the line of historical prospecting ‘pits’ around 120 metres to the southeast of the Lady Herial Lower Structure. Right: Confirmatory panning of FOS24RC_056’s 1 metre at 350g/t gold.
In response to these encouraging findings, Lunnon Metals is expanding its exploration efforts to test multiple high-ranking gold prospects within the Foster belt, with a focus on Lady Herial lookalikes.
A pipeline of opportunities
The company hopes the expanded program will firm up a pipeline of opportunities, from early-stage testing through to resource estimation, open pit design and permitting.
The company has also received the final results from its current Lady Herial drilling program, with significant intercepts including 16.25 metres at 0.82 g/t gold in the Upper Structure and 14 metres at 0.56 g/t in the Lower Structure.
Geological modelling is now underway to further define the extent of the mineralisation.
The Foster area and the broader Kambalda region are renowned for gold and nickel production with the nearby St Ives Gold Mine, operated by Gold Fields, producing more than 15 million ounces of gold to date.
Lunnon Metals holds all mineral rights over its Foster-Baker project, except for gold in specific ‘excluded areas’.